I have no idea what type of person showed up to this (ok, I have an idea lol), but I have a shit load of sympathy for people who can’t work right now and are dealing with NC’s broken ass unemployment system and a federal government moving at a glacial pace to release stimulus.

Some of these people are trying to make rent and could give a damn about the immuno-compromised. Because our safety net system is shit, relying on welfare to provide for your family is an absolutely terrifying place for most people to find themselves.

[Edited on April 14, 2020 at 2:38 PM. Reason : Big shout out to the NC GOP, Mcrory, and Cherie Berry for destroying NC UI]

We could always just make the immunocompromised stay home and give everyone else the choice of whether or not they want to risk it.

Its one thing to try to keep the hospitals from being overwhelmed i get that but its not happening so the government is actually forcing public health guidelines onto the general population involuntarily. Hospitals are at 10% capacity which means this thing is being drawn out way too long. Now they are saying we might have to do this until 2022 which is just not acceptable. Its getting out of hand.

-A dont tread on me flag-white people being white as fuck-An old man driving a Scion xB, wearing a Go Burrito shirt, making big shrugging motions in front of the cops and a camera, as if to intimate "i dont know why you guys are telling us to disband" (was inaudible on broadcast)(see above)-Signs with the words "tyranny" and "constitution" (see 2 above)-One woman wearing an NC State shirt (cringe) being arrested AFTER everyone had disbanded. I think she wanted to be like Jane Fonda (personal opinion)

I know that people following guidelines is why its not happening but I don't know if the government FORCING people to follow guidelines is why its not happening. Its not one or the other. I think there is a middle ground that can be found.

"The Order directs people to stay at home except to visit essential businesses, to exercise outdoors or to help a family member. Specifically, the order bans gatherings of more than 10 people and directs everyone to physically stay at least six feet apart from others."

These idiots. If they had just stayed 6ft apart and been doing lunges, theyd have been fine.

even outside of stay at home order, they didnt have a permit.

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"Do I need a permit before I engage in free speech activity? Not usually. However, certain types of events require permits. Generally, these events are: A march or parade that does not stay on the sidewalk, and other events that require blocking traffic or street closureA large rally requiring the use of sound amplifying devices; orA rally at certain designated parks or plazas Many permit procedures require that the application be filed several weeks in advance of the event. However, the First Amendment prohibits such an advance notice requirement from being used to prevent rallies or demonstrations that are rapid responses to unforeseeable and recent events. Also, many permit ordinances give a lot of discretion to the police or city officials to impose conditions on the event, such as the route of a march or the sound levels of amplification equipment. Such restrictions may violate the First Amendment if they are unnecessary for traffic control or public safety, or if they interfere significantly with effective communication with the intended audience. A permit cannot be denied because the event is controversial or will express unpopular views.

If organizers have not obtained a permit, where can a march take place? If marchers stay on the sidewalks and obey traffic and pedestrian signals, their activity is constitutionally protected even without a permit. Marchers may be required to allow enough space on the sidewalk for normal pedestrian traffic and may not maliciously obstruct or detain passers-by."

from what i can tell, that parking lot is not private, so they would be good, except that they were DEFINITELY obstructing the flow of traffic both on jones st and on the sidewalk

At least some evidence mounting that this is a coordinated GOP campaign. Regardless of its AstroTurf status, it is easy to see quite a portion of the NCGOP starting to openly embrace it. I’ve gotten emails from Dan Forest, Berger, and even my local podunk state senator suggesting either that NCDHHS doesn’t actually have evidence of an emergency outbreak in NC or that the authority for the shutdown doesn’t exist.

No matter what happens in the next few months, by October 2020 it’ll be a true fact to the rank and file that COVID-19 was just the flu and the shutdown was big government scientists trying to control us.

I know there's been a lot of criticism of the God of Economy and definitely some of it is warranted. But one of the sharpest criticisms I have of Everyman in this day and age is we have completely divorced why we pay taxes compared to the levels of government spending. Say government tax receipts in your state or locality go down in 2020 by 30%. States cannot print money out of thin air like the feds can. (This same reality is true for all eurozone states.) State and local government if they operate on the ragged edge either has to increase taxes substantially to make up the shortfall or has to cut a ton of spending or put out a ton of municipal bonds (i.e. heavy debt). The earlier the economy opens up, the less of that hard decision to deal with.

Budget discussions the tail end of this year are going to be brutal for anyone without a rainy day fund. My state of Indiana we might be okay because we've been conservative fiscally for a long period of time. Illinois nextdoor however has been brutal financially for years even before this, to the point people and businesses were leaving the state.

Disclaimer: I am elected to a Township Advisory Board position in Indiana, the most grassroots political position in our state. Our main job is oversight of the Trustee and approval of the township's annual budget.

Interest rates being what they are, some might say it’s completely irresponsible for local/state governments to NOT take on debt in order to help bridge their communities through what may be a once in a generation health crisis/economic recession.

We're not talking bonds representing 1 or 2 percent of the budget, we're probably talking double digits. The size of these bonds if everyone went that route would be historically huge. And if I had a chance to buy Indiana bonds versus say Illinois bonds, why would I buy Illinois - a state that has been ran horribly financially for a very long time? Places that already had bad finances it's not going to be the silver bullet unless they want to pay high interest. Municipal debt already had a scare in this crisis a month ago.

Frankly, every state and local government budget office at the moment should be going through their 2020 budget and classifying everything as "want" or "need", and get rid of all the wants to see where that leaves them heading into 2021 in the event tax receipts crater. I think a 10% reduction in tax receipts if tax levels are left consistent is definitely viable.

Until your posts I haven't really viewed the shutdown from the perspective of state budgets. God, this must be killing tax revenue for the state.

Still not jumping on the open up train. I can see why people are starting to want this to happen. Anecdotally, I know no one who's gotten this virus and has shown symptoms. These folks see that and it reinforces their idea that it was all some government conspiracy to hurt Trump or to see how far they can control the populace.

We are still keeping our daughter at home though while all the other hood kids play together. We feel like in the case of our neighbors, who are flying the Gadsen flag which as far as I can tell, has become a symbol of the reopen movement, are not practicing good social distancing simply because they don't believe this virus is really a thing.

But yea, while the feds are handing out money left and right, the states are going to have to do something to make up for all this lost revenue.

"I put in the general coronavirus thread this but apparently you can now buy wholesale gasoline in the Midwest for 12 cents a gallon. So that's how much economic activity has gotten shut down."

I mean, yes this is demand based in part, but a huge chunk of this is the massive oil war started in February, no? The Saudis basically pumped harder than they ever have before in the two weeks leading up to the deal that was just struck.

States and municipalities are responsible for themselves and their own spending. It's not Tarheels' fault to bail us out if Hoosiers elect a bad government and vice versa. If states and municipalities just get bailed out by the federal government then there's no reason to have restraint on fiscal matters ever, which is absolutely a problem in Washington under this president. Even early in Obama's presidency he refused to help out I think it was California when they were up against a wall due to poor government, rightfully.

Quote :

"And taxes need to be increased asap on high earners."

Awesome. Who has put forward those bills in Congress and state legislatures in an election year, and what are we defining as high earner?

I don't really care much about spouting bullshit with nothing to back it up, it's why I hate Trump and Sanders. You want to say something, great, tell me the mechanisms and the how. Otherwise you might as well be off on Neptune.

"Not surprisingly the coronavirus pandemic delivered a heavy hit to U.S. port volumes in March. The unknown is how long the container drought will continue. Northwest Seaport Alliance (NWSA) Chief Executive Officer John Wolfe said during a press conference Wednesday he expects second-quarter volumes will be soft as the “unprecedented disruption” to the global supply chain continues and container shipping lines cancel more sailings.

“Total container volumes in March were down approximately 21% as compared to March of 2019,” Wolfe said. “That brings our year-to-date first-quarter decline to 15.4%.”

The NWSA, which operates the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, Washington, said it handled 264,133 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in March. Full imports in March declined 28.2%, while full exports decreased 8.6% year-over-year.

Wolfe said container shipping lines canceled 32 sailings during the first quarter, including 19 in March alone.

“As of today, we anticipate an additional 19 canceled sailings as we look out into quarter two. However, this is a very fluid situation and these numbers could change,” he said.

The NWSA handled 788,882 TEUs between Jan. 1 and March 31, a 15.4% decline from the same period last year. Full imports and exports declined 19.3% and 4.9%, respectively.

Wolfe said he expects second-quarter total volume also to be “soft.”

“That’s driven by the situation in the United States with the closure of many businesses and the consumer market demand being down over last year as a result of the economy being shut down,” he said. “With the anticipation that we will slowly open up the economy in the second quarter of this year, which of course is uncertain, we expect the third and fourth quarters will be stronger quarters in terms of total volume.

“So we’ll wait and see what happens in the second quarter. That is our best forecast: that the third and fourth quarter could be much stronger,” Wolfe continued. “We’re hopeful that 2021 will be a much more robust year for us in terms of total cargo volumes and job creation and economic activity through the gateway.”

Other U.S. West Coast ports

The Port of Los Angeles, North America’s busiest container port, reported a year-over-year March volume drop of 30.9%.

The port said it moved 449,568 TEUs in March. That’s the lowest amount of monthly cargo moved through the port since February 2009.

The Port of Long Beach also continued to feel the economic effects of COVID-19 in March, with more canceled sailings and a decline in cargo containers shipped through the nation’s second-busiest seaport.

Terminal operators and dockworkers moved 517,663 TEUs last month, a 6.4% decline compared to March 2019. Imports were down 5% to 234,570 TEUs, while exports increased 10.7% to 145,442 TEUs. Empty containers shipped overseas dropped 21% to 137,652 TEUs.

The coronavirus was blamed for 19 canceled sailings to Long Beach during the opening quarter of 2020. That contributed to a 6.9% decline in cargo shipments compared to the first three months of 2019, port officials said.

The Port of Oakland reported Monday that global trade weakened by the coronavirus pandemic resulted in a year-over-year 10.3% container import decline in March.

The return of empty containers to Asia dropped 23%, the port said.

In other March year-over-year figures, the number of ships calling Oakland decreased 10.6%, loaded container volume at the port declined 7.4% and export container volume dipped 5%.

Gulf Coast

Port Houston, the largest container port on the U.S. Gulf Coast, said container activity began slowing in late March as expected due to the pandemic.

Port Houston in March handled a total of 248,280 TEUs, a drop of 11% compared to March 2019, when 280,721 TEUs were recorded. For January through March, however, the port handled 773,087 TEUs, compared to 694,167 TEUs for the same period last year. That is an increase of 11% for the first quarter.

JAXPORT also reported an 8% drop in container volume in March year-over-year. Container volume for March was 14% below what had been budgeted for the month.

“Despite a drop in these volumes in March, revenue held steady,” said Chelsea Kavanagh, JAXPORT public information officer. “We do anticipate seeing a sharper revenue impact in April, May and June. The extent of that impact is still to be determined. We are working closely with our ocean carriers and tenants to monitor the situation and prepare.”

Kavanagh told American Shipper that JAXPORT’s “diversification model played an important role in reducing the impact on our revenue last month. For example, a large U.S. military cargo move took place in March, which helped offset some of the drop in commercial cargo volumes. We also saw an increase in demand in our forest products business.”

Kavanagh also said to help northeast Florida companies better manage cash flow during the coronavirus crisis, JAXPORT is deferring the application fee for Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) No. 64 applications received by July 31.

New FTZ customers can defer the one-time $2,500 application fee for 90 days from the application date.

An FTZ is a secured site within the United States but technically considered outside of U.S. Customs’ jurisdiction, allowing shippers to clear cargo as it leaves the FTZ while saving on import clearance costs.

The South Carolina Ports Authority said in a press release Tuesday that it remains positive about the long-term outlook, although March year-over-year volumes were down and the SCPA will not meet the fiscal year container plan.

Loaded imports totaled 76,019 TEUs, an 18.1% drop from the 92,875 TEUs recorded in March 2019. Loaded exports were down 6%, from 77,704 TEUs in March 2019 to 73,077 TEUs this year. Empties shipped were down 16.1% year-over-year, from 43,534 TEUs to 36,536 TEUs.

March operating earnings plummeted 41.8%, from $4.13 million in March 2019 to $2.41 million last month.

In its press release, the SCPA shared year-over-year fiscal year results for March, reporting that more than 1.82 million TEUs had moved across the Port of Charleston’s Wando Welch and North Charleston container terminals thus far in fiscal year 2020, from July through March, up 2% from the same period a year ago.

“Vehicle and breakbulk volumes were strong in March,” the SCPA said, citing the movement of 24,755 vehicles in March and 174,095 vehicles thus far in fiscal year 2020, up 27% from a year prior.

Year-over-year, the vehicle segment was up 34.3% from the 18,443 moved in March 2019.

In the breakbulk segment, the SCPA handled 73,342 pier tons in March for a total of 541,661 pier tons in the fiscal year to date. That’s up 23% year-over-year, the SCPA said. For March year-over-year, breakbulk was up 29.3% from the 56,733 pier tons handled in 2019.

The SCPA has revised its container outlook for fiscal year 2020, which runs from the beginning of July 2019 to the end of June 2020, to 1.345 million pier containers. Total 2019 fiscal year volume was 1.364 million pier containers.

“It has become increasingly clear since the end of Chinese New Year that the COVID-19 manufacturing shutdown in China and the subsequent significant shutdown of the consumer economies in the U.S. and the Western world means that we will not achieve our fiscal year 2020 volume plan,” SCPA President and CEO Jim Newsome said in a statement.

Newsome added that despite the current economic environment, he remained “very positive about the long-term outlook for both the Southeast port market and the South Carolina Ports Authority in view of a number of business development initiatives, which are ongoing.”

The SCPA had recorded its best February ever this year for both cargo volumes and rail moves at its inland ports. When reporting February volumes in early March, Newsome said the SCPA still anticipated “a rebound in May and June to finish the year above plan.”

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) is still compiling March volume data, according to Amanda Kwan, senior public information officer.

Kwan did say the port authority recorded 13 blank sailings in March. The PANYNJ made international news in March first with the announcement that Executive Director Rick Cotton had tested positive for the coronavirus and then with the arrival of the hospital ship USNS Comfort in New York Harbor late in the month to provide relief to area hospitals overburdened with COVID-19 patients."

"The Medicaid program is jointly funded by the federal government and states. The federal government pays states for a specified percentage of program expenditures, called the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP). States must ensure they can fund their share of Medicaid expenditures for the care and services available under their state plan."

And yes the fed government should absolutely "bailout" states during this crisis, that's what it's there for.

Quote :

"Who has put forward those bills in Congress and state legislatures in an election year, and what are we defining as high earner?"

Im cool with Warren or Sanders tax bill. Welcome to tww.

[Edited on April 17, 2020 at 10:10 AM. Reason : ^why don't you post a link to the article you stole? ]

^ Sanders and Warren's legislation have as much chance of being passed in the next 9 months as anything pushed forward by the Republican minority in the House of Representatives.

Besides, why does the federal government need to raise taxes? In fact, why do we pay taxes at all to the federal government when they can just snap their fingers and create $2 trillion out of thin air to fund everything under the sun?

https://youtu.be/bfN2JWifLCYSwedish epidemiologist Prof Johan Giesecke, an advisor to the Swedish government and one of the world's most senior epidemiologists.

The plan was to flatten the curve, not fail to eliminate the curve entirely.

We cannot keep sheltering at home for the next year. Therefore, I suspect too few people are catching it right now for us to end restrictions in a few month and have it do anything but explode again. The plan Sweden is taking is to lock down the old and susceptible for months, flatten the curve just enough to not overwhelm the hospitals, but otherwise maintain as close to business as normal as that allows. Therefore, by the time the at-risk individuals can themselves no longer shelter in place, society at large has herd immunity.

This seems to be the only actually logical plan. The shelter in place plan has no means of ending, other than a vaccine, which will simply not exist in any time-frame that makes sense.

Schools are still going to be closed so parents will still have to stay home just to teach/supervise as they can't do daycare or group babysitting due to continued social distancing. That's a significant portion of the population unable to go back full time if their job does come back.

Just from my perspective out at the beach I don't see families traveling from everywhere to come here, and I certainly won't be in a rush to go spend time with them and then go spend a few hours with another group the next day. That's the main source of income still absent. The schools still being closed is the remainder.

IMO if/when we reopen things it'll be 2 weeks max before we see an influx of new cases. This won't matter to 30% of the population who still thinks it's all a hoax.

My family and I have been practicing social distancing the best we can - we don't go out anywhere, we order or groceries online, and we've not let our daughter play with the neighborhood kids.

This is why the following pisses me off so much:

My father was telling me about a friend of his who has a relative (his daughter-in-law's sister) that lives in Cary. She got sick and tested positive for COVID-19 and is now back at home with some medication. Her husband is a police officer - not sure if it is Cary, Wake Sheriff's office, state trooper, etc, who wanted to get tested due to the proximity of him and his wife. They refused to test him.

What the fuck good does all this that my family has done do, if I get pulled over by this guy and get it.

Don't get me wrong, we aren't going to change our behaviors, but damnit that is frustrating. Why the hell are we not testing more people????

"So if we're gonna resume soon but stay distanced and what not what business sectors will benefit from this?"

All businesses that require people visiting them even if everything got opened up tomorrow are still going to see a decline from regular pre-Covid business, because not everyone is going to go out acting like normal. If my state opened up tomorrow, I'm still not going to the movies and will still be more restrictive around general people. It's why this is going to be a lingering depressive event on the economy.

The events business (sports, concerts, arenas, stadiums, theaters, companies that operate in or organize those) is probably screwed the rest of the year. The only saving grace for sports are those that have TV contracts and are not dependent on live gates. So stuff like minor league baseball might not play the whole year even if the majors play in front of empty stadiums. All businesses dependent on those events for income are probably screwed then (so downtown-based entities nationally). Tourism and travel will take a major hit, because even if they offer bargain-basement prices to entice customers, they're still losing a lot of money there. (And this thing is going to flare back, it already has in Japan.) All travel-based businesses will suffer: airlines duh, Amtrak, rental car companies, hotels, oil, gas stations. Restaurants that are not takeout-based will probably see a lingering reduction in foot traffic. Ditto bars.

As long as people are wearing masks and not interacting with other people too much, open public spaces that don’t require a lot of support staff SHOULD start to reopen.

There’s no responsible way to open office/work environments where people are close to each other or interacting with lots of random people. This is just shifting the burden of coronavirus to the working class so things can be convenient for more privileged white collar workers who can stay home.

Colorado is moving from Safe-at-Home to Safer-at-Home, not all the details have been released yet but it looks like they are allowing elective surgeries, retail stores to do curbside take out, etc while still maintaining a bunch of restrictions.